Computer loss is just half of story

The high-profile executive from the San Diego-based wireless communication giant wasn't involved in an acquisition, nor was he announcing quarterly earnings. Instead, while he attended a conference, Mr. Jacobs' laptop computer was stolen.

Mr. Jacobs is not alone.

According to a 1999 survey by Safeware Inc., a Columbus, Ohio-based high-tech business insurance provider, 309,000 laptop computers were stolen in the United States during 1998, resulting in financial losses of almost $1 billion on the equipment alone. Estimates for lost data or sensitive information are unavailable.

There are a wide variety of options available to companies seeking to protect their hardware. Computers can be chained down with steel cables, protected by stand-alone alarm systems and traced by theft recovery systems that notify a security company of the machine's whereabouts when the thief dials into the Internet.

Yet, in the case of Mr. Jacobs and most businesses, says Steven Lerner-Wright, the physical loss of a computer is only half of the story. The theft of data from the stolen computers is ultimately the most costly aspect of the crime, says Mr. Lerner-Wright, marketing director for PC Guardian, a San Rafael, Calif.-based computer security product developer.

Indeed, while Qualcomm's Mr. Jacobs quickly replaced his laptop, he lost control of the information that was on his computer, including sensitive company data.

According to both Mr. Shipley and Mr. Lerner-Wright, the most effective way to protect valuable information is through data encryption.

Widely available and inexpensive, data encryption software encodes documents on a hard drive when a user shuts down his computer. It then is accessible only through a password or pass phrase. With the use of long pass phrases, known only to the computer's owner, data encryption is nearly foolproof.

Best of all, says Mr. Shipley, encryption protection is simple for the user, who only needs to remember a pass phrase. "It makes your data so much safer," he says. "And you don't have to be a computer science major to use it."